My Wish
by listen-to-the-birdies-sing
Summary: Lexie loves Mark. Mark loves Lexie. So why do they keep breaking up? With a broken heart, Lexie turns to her friends and family to keep her mind off the love of her life, but when the love of her life just happens to be her best friend, will she be able to stay away? And if they do get back together, will they be able to stay together? COMPLETE! (:
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE:**

_Lexie:_

His hand entwined with my own as we walked down the crowded street, and I let out a shaky breath, more thankful that he was with me than he would ever know.

I smiled up at him as we stopped on one side of the busy road, waiting for a break in traffic so we would go running across the two lanes like mad people and hope we didn't get hit. That was always the problem with Seattle; even when it was rainy, the roads were crowded. But on the few days that it was actually sunny? Well it could have been a freak show, like a group of monkeys.

Every now and then he would give my hand a gentle squeeze or run his thumb along my own, showing little signs of affection that he knew I needed. But no matter how much he tried to replace it, he couldn't replace the way _he_ had made me feel.

"They should get more crossings on this road," he murmured under his breath, glaring at the jerk that'd just sped up, purely so we couldn't cross. People were like that on sunny days. They wanted to go to the beach or out somewhere and they didn't plan on stopping for anybody. "Maybe then I wouldn't feel like we're going to get hit if we take a step forward."

The laugh that had been hiding for a few days came out of my lips and I leant into his side as he gave me the biggest smile in a long time. "I knew that beautiful sound was hiding in there somewhere."

"Yeah, the rain kind of hid it." I murmured, scrunching up my nose like I always did when I was smiling or laughing.

This time, he was the one who laughed. But it was more of a chuckle, I guess, when I look back at it now. "So you're blaming the rain for taking away your laugh?"

Before I could reply there was a break in the traffic and he was pulling me forward, making my feet move even though I hadn't told them to. On the other side of the road, someone slammed on their breaks from the stupid speed they'd been going, definitely over the speed limit, and their horn didn't stop for about ten seconds while we moved to the pavement, safe and sound.

"Well," I started once they'd driven away and we'd started laughing our heads off like every time we did something wrong or someone got mad at us. Actually, at any inappropriate moment, I think we laughed. "I'm not going to trust you to pull me across the road any more. You almost killed me!"

His mouth formed an 'o', and he shook his head. "No I did not! The maniac in the car did."

I started laughing again, sending him into a shockwave of laughter, until we were leaning up against the wall trying to catch our breaths.

"We should go inside; I'm sure they're all waiting for us." Joe nodded towards the front door of his bar. He'd left his boyfriend in charge so he could come and 'rescue me' from my bed.

He'd sat on the toilet while I had a shower, brushed my hair while I brushed my teeth, helped me pick out the clothes I would wear and then walked me back the twelve blocks to his bar.

"I don't know if this is such a good idea, Joe." I whispered sadly, looking at the door. As soon as he'd said _they're_, my stomach had lurched and I'd realised what was going to happen.

As if he was reading my mind (like he always did), Joe shot me an apologetic glance. "I forgot … well I didn't really forget, I guess I just didn't want to bring him up. He's not going to be here, you know? It's just our friends. It's just close friends."

I licked my lips and leant my head up against the cool wall and closed my eyes. "Thank you."

I felt him, more than heard his footsteps, as he moved towards me and leant next to me so his shoulder was pressed against mine. "Are you sure you're okay, Lex?"

I turned my head so it was facing him and opened my eyes. I hoped he'd believe me when I said it, because if he didn't, I knew I wouldn't be able to believe it myself, and I _needed_ to believe it. "I will be."

He nodded his head slowly as the door to the bar opened, sending a chorus or bells that were tied to the top of the door and we both snapped our heads over in the direction.

Jackson stood, frowning slightly. "What are you guys doing? Is everything okay?"

As always, Joe and I spoke in unison. Over the little time I'd known him, I'd began to realise that Joe was the only guy I needed; he was my closest friend. He listened to me when I needed him to, watched old movies with me and ate the fatty foods none of the girls would, purely because he didn't care about the 'carbs' that we would later burn off by playing Twister or some other stupid game that we couldn't get enough of. "It will be."

Jackson mouth pulled up, smiling his pearly-white teeth at us. "Oh, you two are too much alike."

"Thank you," we smiled back at him.

He shook his head and held the door open, rolling his eyes at us. "Come on. We've been waiting for you two forever!"

And so Joe and I made our way into the bar we practically lived in, and into the swarm of people who'd decided it was too good of a day to go to waste.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO:**

Once we'd sorted everything out at the bar, gotten all of the supplies we were going to need (which were mostly out of Joe's alcohol supply), we were all packed into two cars and we were off, driving towards the beach.

Of course, I was the one who had gotten chosen to drive the stupid car, even though it was supposedly a day to 'get my mind of things'. Nobody had said anything, but I knew it was the truth, for everyone once in a while I'd look up and everyone would be watching me as if to make sure I was having good time and not having one of those moments where I'd pretend I was fine, but really was dying on the inside.

Joe sat in the back seat next to April, Jackson sat in the passenger's seat next to me, his laugh was infectious through the whole car, and soon enough I was wiping tears out of my eyes after he'd told some stupid joke nobody really got, but his reaction was enough to make us nearly pee ourselves.

"OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SONG!"

Joe and Jackson turned to look at April, who had her head crammed against the back seat, trying to get closer to her speaker so she could hear the music that was turned down low so we could have a conversation.

"Turn it up, Lexie! Turn it up!" April yelled, repeating herself over and over again until I used the **VOLUME UP** button on my steering wheel.

"You've got to be kidding me," Joe muttered from the backseat, but he couldn't stop the rawr of singing that came over the car.

"I trade my soul for a wish; pennies and dimes for a kiss; I wasn't looking for this; but now you're in my way!" April was almost screaming in the backseat, but she was staying more or less in tune, which helped everyone's eardrums.

Lexie had expected April to start singing. April sung all the time, but she hadn't expected _Jackson_, of all people, too. "Your stare was holding; ripped jeans, skin was showing; hot night, wind was blowing; where you think you going, baby?"

Even Lexie couldn't help herself as they all joined in on the chorus. "Hey, I just met you and this is crazy; but here's my number, so call me maybe?"

By the end of the chorus, Jackson was tapping his fingers on the dashboard with the beat of the drum, and even Joe was starting to smile. He usually didn't sing along or do things like that unless it was just he and Lexie, but apparently he was having a good day that day, despite the fact his boyfriend wasn't coming to the beach with us since Joe had left him in charge of the bar.

Jackson smiled at the music solo. "Take it away, Lexie."

And I did just that, singing the next verse with Jackson still taping the beat, his eyes on the side of my face as I sang. Everyone in the car was nodding their head to the beat as if it would save their lives.

Once the song finished and I turned down the radio once again, everyone burst out into a fit of laughter that lasted us until we pulled up at our destination; the beach. Or the car park, better yet, but the beach none the less.

"What the hell were you guys doing?!" Meredith asked as she jumped out of the driver's seat, joining the rest of us. "All I could see every time I looked in the rear-view mirror were four bobbing heads and a lot of … talking?"

Joe snorted, shaking his head while April, Jackson and I smiled at her. "_Call Me Maybe_ came on the radio. That was enough to send our car into a frenzy, making everyone break out into song. It was like some sort of musical-"

"Oh, don't pretend you didn't join in and like it." Jackson joked, sticking his tongue out at Joe like a four year old.

* * *

It took us another twenty minutes to unpack the boots of the cars, carry the things we'd packed down the beach to the water, and set up the way we wanted to.

"Hey, we're gonna go and check out the water," April called from where her form was walking away from Meredith and I.

I knew that this was going to happen; that some way or another I'd be left with Meredith and she'd start talking about the thing that nobody was talking about in case I had another mental breakdown.

I looked up at Jackson, who kept turning around and looking at the two of us as if he expected me to stab myself with one of the knives that were on the portable barbeque.

I turned my head left, looking to where Christina and Owen were walking hand-in-hand, whispering cute, lovely things in each other's ears. Words of love, no doubt.

The thought made my stomach hurt and I shifted my eyes to where Derek and Alex were sitting in their chairs, a beer in one of their hands, their fishing rods cast and in the other. They were doing things in sync, just like every time they went fishing.

_That left Joe!_ My mind exclaimed, reaching out for the last ray of hope I had. But Meredith was clearing her throat, signalling she was about to start talking and when I searched for Joe's smiling eyes, I found him up in the car-park with his back turned to us, his mobile phone held up to his ear.

"Lexie?"

I sighed. This wasn't going to work. I had no escape and I knew I'd have to have this conversation with her sooner or later. I had just wished I could have put it off for later. "Yes?"

* * *

"Are you okay?"

I licked my lips and grabbed a beer out from the cooler, ice in the bottom that had the bottom of the beer dripping wet. "I'm fine."

Meredith took a deep breath from where she sat, in a fold-out chair with her heels in the sand. "I mean-"

Before she could say what she meant, I cut her off. I knew what she meant, everybody who was here knew what she meant, but I couldn't hear the words being said. I didn't _want_ to hear the words she had to say. "I know what you mean. I'm fine, Meredith."

Using her full name was an obvious stop to the conversation, and she nodded her head, staying in her place. She didn't step over that line, that would cross her to 'bitch' in my mind and I was thankful, since she was my favourite sister and it wasn't a question that I needed her in my life. We worked together, lived together sometimes; we went out for drinks after work and hung out on our days and nights off when we wanted to. I loved Meredith, despite the fact I hadn't grown up with her in my life.

We set into an easy silence and I smiled as I watched Jackson and April running around in the water, Christina and Owen had joined them sometime in the short 5 minute conversation Mere and I had, and I looked over at her. "I'm gonna go get wet. You want to come?"

She looked towards the group who were splashing around in the waves and then to where her husband was excited about catching the fish that was hooked to his line. "I think I'll go and watch my husband while he pulls in that fish that probably won't be eaten tonight."

I let out a small laugh and we both walked in our different directions.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE:**

"LEXIE!"

I looked up from the wet sand after watching my feet sink time and time again. "April?"

"LEXIE, RUN!"

I couldn't pretend that I didn't hear the urgency in her voice, or that I didn't see the look of fear in her eyes. "April, what?"

But then I saw it. She ran past me and left me in the line of fire as he began running towards me, his eyes full of danger and hunger. I couldn't stop the scream that left my lips as I turned and tried to run, but even I knew I wouldn't be able to run fast enough.

"Let me go!" I screamed, the laughter that I couldn't hide coming through my lips in loud gasps.

His arms circled around my waist and he pulled me back so my shoulder-blades were against his chest. "I think you're a little too hot for your own good. Maybe you should get in the water."

"Jackson," I murmured, my voice full of warning. "I swear to god, if you put me in that water-"

He let out a loud, throaty laugh. "You'll do what? Scream? Tackle me and pull me in after you?"

"Kick you in the balls?" I added hopefully, trying to scare him enough to put me back down and leave me be. I know it's wrong to admit, but I was kind of hoping he would keep running after April and make her regret straightening her hair before she came for a day at the beach.

But of course, I was an easy target. Especially after the fact that I didn't turn and start running from him, even after April's warning. I should have started running. I knew I should have started running.

"Oh, Lexie, don't you get I'm going to _have_ to drop you now?"

I couldn't contain my laughter as he walked further into the water with me, despite my squeals of declination. "No! No don't! Please!"

His arms tightened against me the more I kicked him and waved my arms around like a mad-man, so instead I shuffled around so that my body was pressed against his.

His walking slowed as I wrapped my legs around his waist and slipped my arms up around his neck. "If I'm going down, so are you."

I felt his heart-beat quicken and I knew I should have felt bad. Jackson was my ex-boyfriend, after all. He'd broken up with me because of my feelings for _him_ and now there I was, my body wrapped around his, leading him on as if I were ready for another relationship.

His mood quickly got back to playful and he pulled me more tightly against him, smirking. "I guess I'm getting wet, than."

Everyone turned to look what was going on when he tripped on a rock or something and we fell, me being true to my word and not letting him go even though he didn't try to get away. The scream that I let out was enough to make everyone on the beach turn and I was grateful, as Jackson stood up and I took a gasp of air, that we'd found a secluded part of the beach and there wasn't anyone for miles.

"JACKSON!" I laughed as he sunk down so he was on his knees and our bottom halves were missing under the water. "Stand up and put me down, I'm freezing!"

His mouth opened to show another pearly-white grin and his eyes crinkled. Jackson was that kind of guy who looked good from far away, but so much more amazing from close. "I've missed you, Lexie."

I raised my eyebrows to keep myself from frowning and blinked. "What?"

He shot me another smile and shook his head, standing up from the water so that he was still holding me while I was wrapped around him, as if I weighed nothing. My hands had moved down to his biceps so I didn't fall, since I knew they'd be hurting him if I kept them pulling so tightly against his neck.

"Not like that, Lexie," he smiled. "I mean I missed the friendship that we had _before_ all of that crap. I miss us being as close as we used to be."

I don't know what came over me, but I pushed my forehead up to his for a few moments before I took it away. "I missed you, too, Jack."

He opened his mouth to say something before he looked over my shoulder and tensed at the sight he saw. As soon as I heard Meredith's raised voice I knew what was going on, but I still didn't want to admit it.

"WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?!"

When I slid off of Avery and took my hands away from him, his hands falling to his sides, I turned around.

And there he was; standing in all of his glory, with his swim trunks and nothing else.

He was looking at me, not blinking, and suddenly my stomach dropped. He'd seen everything that just happened between me and Jackson, and although it was nothing between us, it would mean something to him.

He had turned up to the day that was supposed to be getting me better? No bloody way! My mouth dropped open and my eyes suddenly swirled with tears. "Mark?"


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR:**

_Mark:_

"Come down," he'd said on the phone. "It should be fun."

Mark looked down at the bag he had packed by the door. This day that he'd been invited to would go either one of two ways.

The first was he'd get there, and nobody accept the man who'd invited him would be happy to see him. The second was that she'd realise what he'd realise and come running into his arms.

If the plan went with option number two, he wouldn't have to leave. If it went with option number one, then he'd say goodbye to everyone and that would be that. He'd finished his contract, so he wasn't letting anybody at the hospital down. And even if the day _did_ go with option number one, no matter how much it hurt him, he needed the time with her to say goodbye.

It wasn't a question that she was avoiding him at the hospital, not that he was going out of his way to run into her either. Lexie had left him, _again_. Three times a walk out, never get walked out on, right? He didn't know if that were true but he'd heard a saying like it somewhere and he was hoping that it was true. Because even if she did walk out on him, and break his heart, three times in a row, she didn't deserve to get her heart broken. She didn't deserve to go through that pain, because he knew what it felt like and he would never wish that on someone like her.

"Mark? Are you going to come?"

He realised he'd drifted into a long time of silence and he bit his lip, making his decision quickly. "Yeah, I'll be there."

They'd said their goodbyes and then hung up, leaving Mark staring at the bag. His first bag packed and many more to go, but he had to check if they could work their problems out first. If they couldn't, then there was nothing keeping him there other than his daughter. But he could come down and visit her every other weekend, and it wouldn't be as bad as … it wouldn't be as bad as seeing her every single day and not being able to hold her in his arms.

He opened the front door to his apartment and walked across the hall, not bothering to stop and knock before he entered to find his baby girl running around the apartment.

In the year she'd been born, she'd picked up the art of running and walking as fast as she could, wherever she could.

"DADDY!" she screamed at the top of her lunges when she'd seen him.

Mark's smile grew to his eyes as he bent down so his knees were on the floor and she rushed over to him, practically tackling him so that he pretended she'd knocked him back and fell so his back was on the ground. "Hey, baby girl."

Once he'd returned to his standing position, with her on his hip, he walked towards Arizona's and Callie's door. "Are your mommy's in here?"

His princess nodded her head like it would save her life, and Mark pressed his ear up against their bedroom door, just checking to be safe before he pushed the door open.

Arizona sat straight up and her eyes narrowed. "God, Mark, have you heard of knocking? I thought someone had broken in!"

"Ever heard of locking your front door?" Mark snapped back.

Although he and Arizona ripped the crap out of each other a lot, he respected her as a person, and was grateful his best friend had found someone who actually loved her with all of their heart. Even if it did have to be someone he didn't see eye-to-eye with very often.

"MARK?!"

His smile got wide again as Callie ran out of the on-sweet bathroom that she and Arizona shared, nothing but her underwear and bra on. Mark didn't look at her body like he normally would have. He didn't even sneak a peek at her boobs. Because he hadn't been doing that since he got with Lexie.

"Hey!" she cooed as she got to her daughter and kissed her forehead.

"Mommy nake-nake!"

Mark laughed and looked down at his little princess, shaking his head. "You're right, princess, mommy _is_ nake-nake."

"What's going on, Mark?"

From the serious tone of Callie's voice, she obviously knew this wasn't just a pop-by visit and she looked at Arizona, sending her a silent message like they usually did instead of talking out loud.

"Hey, princess, how about you come to mommy and let daddy and mommy talk?"

Mark reluctantly let go of his daughter, handing her over to the blonde-hair and blue-eyes that made up Arizona Robins. "I'll be back later, princess, okay?"

His daughter didn't answer him, instead she was too caught up in the tennis ball that had been sitting on the bed-side table for some reason unknown to Mark.

Callie practically dragged him out of the room and into the kitchen, he had no choice but to follow her.

"What's going on, Mark?"

He bit his lip. He hated how guilty he felt for telling her what he was about to do. "I'm going to see Lexie-"

"MARK!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air.

"I'm going to tell her goodbye, Callie." He murmured sadly. "I'm going to tell everyone goodbye."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his best friend still completely as she took in his words and her eyes narrowed slightly as she said her next words. "What do you mean you're going to tell _everyone_ goodbye?"

He licked his lips; this wasn't easy for him. Even though Callie was nothing to him in the love-interest department, they shared a daughter together and she'd always have a special place in his heart. Plus, being his best friend and everything … he didn't know how he was meant to tell his best friend that, based solely on the way his reunion with his ex-girlfriend (and the love of his life) panned out, he might be moving away. "If she doesn't … if she doesn't want me back, I'm leaving, Callie. I can't stay here and not be able to hug her and kiss away the pain that I made for her."

"The pain _you _made for _her_?!" she exclaimed, her voice raising decimals with every word. "That _you_ made for _her_?! Mark are you friggin crazy?! This is the girl who left you _three bloody times_!"

He chose to ignore the words instead of listening to the, and he pulled her close, kissing her forehead. "I'll miss you, too, baby."


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE:**

_Mark:_

When he arrived at the beach, he was in his swim trunks and nothing else. He knew that once she saw him, she'd probably get angry and scream at him, but he had hope that when Lexie saw him and ran up to him to try and kill him, she'd see his muscles and she'd go crazy. Because she loved muscles.

Not his muscles particular, just muscles themselves. They were like her drug.

He walked from the opposite side of the beach, giving him time to collect his thoughts and figure out what he was going to say to her.

And then he saw them; all of them.

Derek and Alex looked up from where they were fishing, Meredith still hadn't noticed him, and Derek's eyes got large before he stood up, smiling as wide he could before he stood up and began his walk over to his best friend.

In the distance he could see Hunt and Yang, swimming around in the deep water, not taking their eyes off each other as if it would kill them to do so.

Two figures were sitting on the beach talking, and then out in the water, was Avery and … April?

He couldn't tell but on the inside he was smiling. Good, Jackson had gotten over Lexie and was finally leaving her alone. And good for April, hitting it off with such a nice guy.

Wow, and they were moving _fast_ too. Their foreheads were pressed together, her legs were wrapped around his waist, and his hands were on her ass. He'd used that moves many times, pretending that it was the only way to keep the girl up, but honestly just wanting to feel their ass.

His stomach churned. That was the way he and Lexie used to be. Carefree. They'd done exactly what April and Avery were doing at that moment, and he had to turn back to watch Derek.

Mark didn't like to admit it, but he'd always liked Avery. He'd taken care of Lexie when Mark couldn't, and he was a good surgeon. Mark had no doubt in his mind that one day he'd be a great one.

Once Derek had hugged him and whispered in his ear the question he knew everyone would ask, Meredith glanced up and then back to the sea before she took a double-take.

She got to her feet and marched over to them. "Derek what the hell is going on?"

"Hello to you too, Meredith." Mark said politely, giving her a warm smile despite the fact that she was pretending she didn't hear him.

She looked as if she were about to kill someone, and honestly, he couldn't blame her. Lexie _was_ her little sister, after all. "Derek, what the hell is going on?"

Derek murmured for her to calm down, which only seemed to anger her more, and then she snapped. "I don't want to calm down, I want to know is WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?!"

The movement in the distance caught his eye, dragging him away from the conversation Meredith and Derek were having.

Now that she was standing on her own two feet, Mark realised that it _couldn't_ be April. Not only was her head not red, which he didn't know how he'd missed, but she was as skinny as a pencil.

And she had those back-dimples that were easy to see, even from twenty metres away.

He stomach pricked with jealousy as he realised what was going on, while Avery's hands fell away from her body and back to his sides while she slowly turned around.

From the way her body had gone stiff, it was obvious that she knew what was going on; she knew that he was here, and she knew that he'd seen what had just happened between her and her stupid boyfriend.

It didn't occur to Mark that he wasn't blinking. That he was just standing there, staring at her like she was an angel or some other thing that would never happen.

Her mouth formed an 'o', and then he read her lips as she spoke her name.

Without bothering to say anything else, he turned on his heel and started back up the beach the way he'd came. He was done. It was over. She'd moved on.

He was going home to pack up his house and then it was adios to Seattle and hello to the sunshine and beaches of Mexico until he figured out his next move.

He bit his lip as he walked, just praying that he could keep in the tears until he got back to his car.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX:**

_Lexie:_

I didn't know what I was doing until I felt myself moving.

I didn't hear the screams behind me when I passed Meredith and Derek.

I didn't notice them fighting, or feel Jackson grab my hand as if willing for me to stay with him. As if willing there to be something between us that there just wasn't.

"Mark?" I asked again as I came close to him.

He didn't turn back but I saw his back twitch, and I knew he'd heard me. When I looked over my shoulder, just for a split second, I couldn't believe how far I'd run. The only thing I could see of my group of friends were little dots and I was suddenly surrounded by people, random strangers, on the beach. "Mark, stop!"

I nearly ran into him as he came to a sudden halt, and I took a step back because of the murderous look on his face. "What do you want, Alexandra?"

My heart stopped for a split second. Never, ever, had Mark used my full name. "I- I-"

"Should hurry up and spit it out. I have things to do today other than stand here and listen to you stutter."

I looked down at the ground, gathering my courage and then looked back up to his face, trying to ease some of the tension. "What are you doing here?"

He laughed. A cruel, horrible laugh. "What? Am I not allowed to walk on a public beach if you're on it?"

I bit my lip. "Mark, come on, you know what I mean."

His eyes narrowed. "I was coming to see _you_. I was coming to make things better. But now that I've seen you've moved on, I think I'll be leaving."

My stomach dropped for the hundredth time since I'd seen him on the beach. "Mark, I-"

"I don't have time for bullshit, Lexie." He snapped.

I didn't know what to do. Mark had never spoken to me like that before, and I couldn't do anything but stand there and watch him walk away, while the swarm of people who'd gathered around us to watch the scene play out walked away with him.

And then it came; the tears I hadn't shed for the last two days came pouring out, and I turned and began running back to the people who knew me best. To the one person who would take me home straight away before he came back and started packing up the liquor that we'd taken from his store.

"I stuffed up, Joe." I whispered as he drove me home.

Just like I knew he would, he ignored the sounds of disapproval and annoyance from our close group of friends when he'd taken his car keys. They were exclaiming about how they were all meant to get home, and Joe had told them straight out, for all he cared they could walk or call a cab. If they didn't feel like that, he'd be back in an hour.

After Mark showed up, there was a sudden lowness about the whole group and nobody really spoke a word to me as I rushed into Joe's arms and he walked me away from them.

Meredith and Derek were arguing about something or other, and Meredith kept losing her temper, every now and then screaming a word and then going back to low voices that showed the danger they were going to put the other one in.

"You didn't stuff up, honey," Joe murmured under his voice as he switched lanes, much to the disapproval of the guy behind us. "He's just an idiot."

If I weren't so hurt from the way he'd talked to me, I think I would've been laughing about the thought. "He thinks I'm back with Jackson."

Joe made a tssking sound and shook his head. "Well than he really is an idiot. An idiot who doesn't deserve such a wonderful girl like you."

Joe was always good for my self-esteem, but right then I didn't need him to help my self-esteem, all I needed him to do was listen. "You should have seen the way he looked at me, Joe. He looked so … broken."

For the first time since we'd gotten in the car, Joe didn't say anything back straight away. Instead he paused, thinking about his words before he nodded and decided to say them. "Love can do stupid things to people. Right now he's just a little bit heart broken."

My stomach dropped as we pulled into my driveway and I got out of the passenger's door, not looking up until Joe got out and spoke. "Callie? What are you doing here?"

My head snapped up in time to see her just before she pushed me back against the black SUV and her eyes narrowed. She didn't take her pointer finger away from my collar bone and I knew she had no problem with slapping the shit out of me if I said an answer that she didn't want. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!"

I scrunched my fingers up and dug my nails into my palms. "I didn't do anything! He assumed that I'm with Jackson again-"

She dug her finger further into my skin. "WHY DID HE THINK THAT?!"

I couldn't be bothered to deal with her shit, I realised. I didn't care what she did to me, it couldn't make me feel any worse. "Why are you here, Callie?"

She took a moment to answer, and I knew she was thinking about punching me in the face rather than answering me. "I don't know what you did, but you really, _really_, stuffed up, kid."

"Tell me something I don't know," I snorted in a retort.

So she chose to do just that. She chose to tell me something that I had no bloody clue about. "Mark's packing up his apartment right now. He's leaving town."

Without another word, I pushed her off and ran around the other side of the car, getting into the driver's door that was still open, and backing out of the driveway, thankful Joe had left his keys in the engine.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN:**

_Lexie:_

By the time I got to his building and took the stairs, two at a time, up to the fifth floor, I had that feeling in my gut.

The feeling that told me, even before I got to his door, what I was going to find.

So when I pushed the front door open and walked inside, the only thing that shocked me was the sound my footsteps made when they echoed alone in his apartment.

_Callie:_

"She just took my car," Joe repeated again, staring at the empty driveway.

Callie didn't give a shit about his stupid car! She cared about her best friend and the information that she was going to get, one way or another.

So she did what she did best being a Latina; she cornered Joe up against Lexie's garden fence, and narrowed her eyes. "Since little miss I-Broke-Your-Best-Friend's-Heart isn't here,_ you're_ going to tell me what I need to know."

For a moment, Joe looked like he was going to crack, before he shook his head and bit his bottom lip. "Come on, Callie, I've known you longer than I've known her, I know you're harmless."

The way his face moulded showed her that she had him rethinking that statement and soon enough she had him speaking.

"Lexie was walking in the sand," he started shakily. "And then Jackson picked her up and he was about to chuck her in the water. So Lexie wrapped her legs around his waist so that if he dropped her, he'd end up getting wet, as well. So Jackson said that he missed their friendship, and Lexie said that she missed it too. Then Jackson pressed his forehead to hers and Lexie pulled away because she's still in love with Mark. Anyway, for some reason Mark showed up on the beach and he saw what was going on, and then he had a major freak out and he left her crying."

Callie listened to it all without saying a word. Then she stood on her tip-toes and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, Joe."

Joe let out the breath he'd been holding in and looked down at her. "Should I …"

"You can go now, Joe." Callie nodded.

He didn't need his car to walk the two streets down to his bar where he could get his boyfriends car for whatever reason he needed one.

She flipped her phone up as she walked towards her car, and speed-dialled the only number she knew off by heart.

_Mark:_

By the time he'd packed up the things he needed from his apartment, Callie had disappeared somewhere. So he'd hugged Arizona goodbye, kissed his little girl, but his suitcases in the back of his car, and off he went.

When his phone started ringing, he knew who it would be, and he flipped it up before he checked the Caller ID.

He was glad she was calling, he had to tell her what he was meant to in the note he forgot to leave. He cursed under his breath; it would have been a lot easier just to leave it in the note. Maybe then he wouldn't have to listen to her as she broke into tears when he told her what he wanted.

He knew how it would play out.

_Him; I need you to take care of my apartment while I'm gone._

_Callie; *crying* Okay._

_Him; And I left food in the kitchen, so you'll have to eat that or it'll go off and you'll have to throw it all out. Just take it back to your house so you don't have to keep walking back and forth._

_Callie; *lets out a sob* Okay._

_Him; And I left a couple of clothes in the wardrobe, I need you to drop them over to Lexie._

_Callie; Okay..._

_Him; And … I need you to keep checking up on her for me. Just to make sure she's happy and not hurting and that she's safe. _

Because even if she had been with Avery at the beach, even if she had broken his heart into some more pieces, even if she had walked out on him all over again, at the end of the day he was still in love with her and he wanted her to be happy. He _needed_ her to be happy. Because when she wasn't happy, he was downright depressed. And her smile was the thing that lit up the room, no matter which room it was.

"What's up, Callie?"

In one rush, she told him everything, and his heart sunk lower and lower with every word she said.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT:**

****_Lexie:_

I didn't move.

I'd crawled into his bed some time through the night, and I was laying on my side, in the pitch black, tears sprawling down my cheeks while I cried my little heart out.

I'd screwed up with the whole Jackson thing. I shouldn't have done that with him. But I'd failed even further when I hadn't told Mark what had gone one. When I'd let him walk away from me on the beach and then, apparently, out of my life altogether.

I didn't move when I heard the footsteps outside the apartment, then the door open and shoes clack in. I already knew who it was. The sound of her calling my name, asking if I was there didn't do anything for me, either.

I didn't move when she walked into his room and saw me lying in bed.

I didn't hear a single word she said, or realise she'd gone until hours later when I finally had to get up so I could go to work.

My eyes were still wide, despite the fact that I hadn't gotten any sleep the night before and my eyes had red-rims around them, proving to the fact that I had spent my whole night crying as if someone I loved had died.

It took me half-an-hour after the alarm on my phone went off, telling me I had twenty-minutes to get to works to stand up. It took me five minutes to start walking after I'd stood up. I dragged myself to the bathroom and stood in a cold shower that felt nice on my eyes and hot face.

I got out of the shower ten minutes later, drying myself with the towel that was sitting on the towel rack. I knew it had to be clean, since Mark had folded it instead of just throwing it like he normally would.

And then I dragged myself to the kitchen, stopping to check his wardrobe on the way past. I didn't want to wear the same clothes I'd worn the day before, because the fact was I couldn't turn up at the hospital wearing a spaghetti-strap singlet and short shorts.

My breath caught in my throat when I opened the door and stared. He'd cleaned out everything accept for two garments. My favourite T-shirt that I wore whenever I slept at his house, or stole every time I went to his house and only gave it back when it didn't smell like him anymore. And then, there were the sweatpants. The sweatpants I'd seen him in when he came home from the gym and I was waiting on his doorstep.

It was the night I'd had a fight with Meredith, and he'd held me in his arms the whole night. We didn't do anything but lay in his bed, while he stroked my hair and back.

So I sat on the end of his bed and stared at his clothes for another hour.

I made myself a piece of toast with cheese on it on my way out of the apartment.

I shut the door behind me and locked it with the key I had on my key-chain. He had the same or my apartment and my stomach hurt when I thought about it.

Not bothering to tell Callie and Arizona I was leaving, I walked down the stairs two at a time and went down to my car that was patiently waiting for me.

I didn't know how it had gotten there, since I'd driven Joe's car over the day before, but I guessed Joe had somehow pulled some strings and there she was, waiting for me like a good friend.

I shut down the engine in front of my apartment and sat back in my seat, closing my eyes for a moment of peace that I didn't know I'd needed.

_ and she calls me 'cause I'm still awake; can you help me unravel my latest mistake; I don't love him, winter just wasn't my season…_

I practically dove for my mobile phone when it started ringing, with hope that it would be the hospital saying that I could stay home for the day. With the hope that Owen, as chief, had figured out I needed a day. (As if that would ever happen).

"Hello?" I asked into the phone. I couldn't believe how small my voice.

"LEXIE! Where the hell are you?! I've been so worried about you! Don't you ever answer your damn phone? I've been ringing all night! JESUS CHRIST WHERE WERE YOU? Better yet, where are you?!"

I bit my lip. "I'm sitting in my driveway."

Meredith didn't say anything for a long moment. Instead she gently breathed, letting out a loud soft pattern. "Are you okay, Lex?"

As the tears started again, I blinked, trying to keep them in for as long as I could. "I will be, Mer, but I have to go-"

"Lex!" she called into the phone before I hung up on her. "Wait, were you with Mark? He hasn't turned up for work today, either."

I couldn't stop myself. I pressed the **END CALL** button and pushed my door opened.

After another ten minutes, I walked around to the back door. "Hey baby,"

My galah squawked in reply to my voice. "Hey baby, hey baby!"

I smiled and patted her head that was puffed up through the enclosures steel lines. "Oh, baby bird, I messed up so bad."

"I love you," she whistled. "I love you."

Nobody knew why she repeated herself twice and neither did I, but I'd never tried to get her to stop. It was the thing she loved to do, and if she wanted to do it, I wasn't going to try and make her stop.

With one more pat, I walked up the back steps and pulled open the door before I put the key in the lock and went inside.

When I walked into my bedroom, I planned to crawl up into bed and lay there for the next two days.

And then I stopped dead; there, lying asleep on my bed, was none other than Mark Sloane.


	9. The Last Chapter

**CHAPTER NINE:**

_Mark:_

Once he'd hung up the phone with Callie, he wondered what the hell he was thinking when he'd seen them together.

After doing a _very_ illegal U-Turn and getting honked at by five cars, all at the same time, he started speeding back through the streets of Seattle.

By the time he got to her apartment, her car was sitting in the driveway and his heart started pounding.

He took longer strides than he'd ever taken as he ran up to her front door and opened her door with the key he had in his hand.

But she hadn't been there.

She wasn't in any of the rooms or in the shower, or out the back, and he didn't know where the hell she was.

So he went and sat on the end of her bed and waited for her to come home.

"_LEXIE! Please," she didn't stop from her residing figure in the distance and his heart sank down to his stomach. She wouldn't listen to him while he tried to explain, and the worst part was, he couldn't blame her. "Please, let me explain!"_

_She stopped than, and turned around to look at him, her eyes were narrowed into slits and she shook her head. "I tried to explain to __you__, Mark and you left me crying in the middle of the beach! Why should I do any less to you?"_

"_Because- I was confused and I was hurting. And I'm in love with you, Lexie, please-"_

He was snapped out of his dream by her.

He knew it was her as soon as she walked into the room, because the air around him suddenly changed.

His eyes snapped open and he looked to where he knew she'd be standing, in the middle of the door frame. "Lexie?"

_Lexie:_

"Lexie?"

My eyes were wide and I couldn't stop staring.

"Lexie?" he repeated again.

I licked my lips as I put down my handbag on the floor, obviously shaking from the way my bag was jingling. "What are you doing here?"

When he didn't say anything I turned to look at him, blinking slowly. "I had to come and see you- to talk about yesterday."

I didn't know what came over me. "I don't want to talk about yesterday, Mark."

"Yes you do."

I frowned at him, putting my hands on my hips. "And why the hell would you assume that?"

His answer was simple. As if he didn't even have to think about it. "Because you're wearing my clothes. That means you've been at my apartment. And that means you came to talk, because you wouldn't have showed up if you didn't."

My eyes filled with tears as I leant up against the doorframe. "Maybe I wanted to talk yesterday, Mark. Maybe I spent the whole night up, crying because you didn't come home and I thought you'd left for good. Maybe I tried to talk to you yesterday, but you left me surrounded by people on the street crying. Maybe I don't want to talk to you today, Mark."

I watched as he stood up to his feet and took a step towards me. That had me taking a step backwards.

He looked like he'd been slapped, and for a moment it felt good. To make him feel the pain I'd gone through the day before.

Without another word, I turned on my heel and walked out into the kitchen. I couldn't look at him while I talked, or I'd start crying and run straight back into his arms and we'd never have the conversation we had to have.

He sat down at my kitchen table and waited in silence for me to begin talking.

So I put my saucepan on the stove and put eggs in them. It didn't even occur to me that I wasn't making breakfast for just myself, I was making it for _him_, too. And he knew it, I bet, because of my allergy to eggs.

Instead of wasting the eggs like I normally would have done to anyone else when I was in a bad mood, I kept on cooking them and got out a second saucepan, putting more oil in that before I dropped as many pieces of bacon that could fit.

"I'm not with Jackson," I said softly, flipping the bacon over.

I didn't look up, I knew he'd heard me. "I know… I'm sorry for reacting the way that I did."

I nodded, biting the inside of my cheek. I didn't know what to say, because usually I'd tell him that's it was alright. But it _wasn't_ alright that time. "I know you are."

I didn't hear his footsteps, and I jumped when his voice came from right behind me, his breath heating my skin but sending shivers down my spine. "Forgive me?"

It took all of my might to squeeze my eyes shut right then and there instead of leaning back into him and letting him hold me and make me feel safe. "Mark, I-"

He leant forward so the stubble on his chin was scratching my neck while he talked. Goose pimples arose all over my skin before he even breathed into my ear. I'd always loved his stubble; it was one of the sexiest things about him. "Lexie, forgive me."

This time, it wasn't a request. He knew I'd cracked and that he was back in my good books, so I leant back against him and turned my head so our lips were nearly touching, my heart fastening. "I tried to stop loving you, Mark. When we split, I swore we wouldn't get back together again because it hurts too much every time I leave. And here we are, two weeks later."

His hands slid around my waist as he leant forward, his lips just above my lips so I could feel them moving. "And you have no idea how glad I am to be here."

Without another word, his lips crashed down on mine and I couldn't do anything, but be sucked into the kiss as always.

My hand reached up and tangled in his hair as he spun me around so we were facing each other and began walking.

He pushed me backwards until we'd reached my bed, where I fell and with an evil glint in his eyes, he crawled on top of me.


End file.
